Posts Tagged ‘energy’

The Army selected Baltimore, Md.-based Bithenergy to construct a 3.1-megawatt solar array at Fort Campbell, Ky., the first step in a process expected to culminate in a contract award, officials announced Wednesday. The Army Corps of Engineers Engineering and Support Center, Huntsville picked the firm from its multiple award task order contract’s (MATOC) small business solar pool. The Army plans to award Bithenergy a 27-year power purchase agreement for the solar photovoltaic array to be built on 25 acres at the post that had been used as a landfill, according to a Corps press release. Richard Kidd, deputy assistant secretary of the Army for energy and sustainability, said the announcement “represents a positive milestone for the Army in that this demonstrates installation-level ability to utilize the MATOC …

The military services are taking steps to mitigate the risks posed by utility disruptions which have resulted in operational and fiscal impacts due to hazards such as mechanical failure and extreme weather, according to a new report by the Government Accountability Office. Installations have installed backup generators and conducted vulnerability assessments of their utility systems to prepare for future disruptions. DOD reported 180 utility disruptions lasting eight hours or longer in fiscal 2013, with an average financial impact of about $220,000 per day …

The Georgia Public Service Commission this week approved the construction of a 46-megawatt solar plant at Marine Corps Logistics Base Albany, marking the fifth Georgia military installation slated to host a new solar farm. The Marine Corps is still negotiating a final deal with Georgia Power, which will construct the facility at the southwestern Georgia installation and distribute the power generated to its customers, reported the Albany Herald. Contracts for solar facilities at Forts Gordon, Stewart and Benning, and Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay have already been approved. Georgia Power will construct all of those projects. The Marine Corps plant will be completed by the end of 2016 and have a 35-year life …

Plans to develop a 10-megawatt solar array at Robins Air Force Base through an enhanced use lease have fallen behind schedule since they were initially announced last July. At the time, Chicago-based New Generation Power planned to begin construction at a 50-acre site at the Middle Georgia installation by September, with the solar plant slated to go online by January 2015. So far, though, work has not progressed beyond clearing the forested site, reported the Telegraph. Officials from the Air Force and the developer still need to sign a final lease, said Mark Kinkade, a spokesman for the Air Force Civil Engineering Center. “Despite the extended timeline, the project is moving forward …

Officials from the Navy, Marine Corps, Duke Energy and eastern North Carolina held a groundbreaking last week for a 13-megawatt solar farm on a 100-acre site at Camp Lejeune, N.C. The project will cost $25 million to $30 million, and is expected to be online by the end of the year. “In a world that has a lot of uncertainty, you need flexibility,” Dennis McGinn, assistant secretary of the Navy for energy, installations and environment, said during the event. “You get flexibility in energy supply by having different sources of energy. And this solar project is a good example of having another aspect in the mix of the places we get energy. The fact that it’s distributed energy, the fact that it’s on a secure base, adds to that aspect of security …

The Navy is using a new automated tool to track its installations’ progress slashing energy consumption, improving efficiency and increasing their reliance on renewable energy sources. The Navy Shore Geospatial Energy Module (NSGEM) is an interactive web map that visually depicts monthly energy usage for each facility at every installation, reported Navy Installations Command. “NSGEM is very important because it provides an easy way for sailors to understand efficiency at commands across the Navy all the way down to the facility level,” said Sandrine Schultz, NIC’s energy program director. The tool also is central to the “Energy Biggest Loser” competition taking place across Navy installations in Europe, Africa and Southwest Asia …

The Navy this week signed a real estate outgrant with Georgia Power to develop a 30-megawatt solar farm at Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay on the southern coast of Georgia. The outgrant provides Georgia Power, the largest subsidiary of Southern Co., access to 258 acres of land to install ground-mounted solar photovoltaic panels. Energy generated by the project will be routed to Georgia Power’s transmission lines and distributed to its customers. By developing the solar farm on-base, the Navy can physically secure it behind the installation’s fence lines and will benefit from having a new power source close to the base. The project is estimated to represent a $75 million investment …

The former commanding general of Fort Bliss, Texas, has been reprimanded for steering a contract that was part of the post’s net zero energy initiative to a firm run by two of his former classmates at West Point. Maj. Gen. Dana Pittard, who more recently commanded U.S. advisory forces in Iraq, was formally reprimanded in February after a three-year investigation by the Army’s inspector general, the Washington Post reported this week. An Army review board is considering whether to strip him of his rank as a two-star general before he is allowed to retire this year …

Defense Logistics Agency Energy, in conjunction with the Army, this week selected Charlottesville, Va.-based Apex Clean Energy for a large-scale renewable energy project that will rely on an onsite solar component along with energy generated at a wind farm located 350 miles away. The hybrid project will feature a 15-megawatt (alternating current) photovoltaic solar plant at the central Texas post and 50.6 megawatts (alternating current) of wind energy from the firm’s Cotton Plains wind energy facility on the Texas Panhandle. The project will be micro-grid capable, according to a fact sheet from the Army’s Office of Energy Initiatives. “We’re excited to partner with Apex Clean Energy in this first-of-its-kind hybrid project,” said Katherine Hammack, assistant secretary of the Army for installations, energy and environment …

Officials from Fort Campbell and an electric cooperative last month held a groundbreaking ceremony at the site of a capped landfill for a solar array slated to produce 5 megawatts of energy. The Pennyrile Rural Electric Cooperative Corp. will construct the first phase of the project which will provide about 1.9 megawatts of energy capable of “plugging in” directly into the Kentucky post’s power grid, reported the Army. The cooperative is using a $3.1 million grant from the state to supplement the cost of building its portion of the ground-mounted solar panel system. This phase should be completed in September …